Slugger (Sequel to 'The Jet') Benny Rodriguez

Chapter 10

The next morning went as follows: You woke up with severe lower back pain, but it was okay because there was a good reason for that last night.

You rolled over see a wonderful picture beside you. Truly he was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen, except maybe Eva... but then again she looked exactly like him.

His bare back faced the ceiling, his stomach and chest against the mattress beneath him. His face was burried partly into his pillow, and his hands were underneath it, clutching the sides of the pillow case. His mouth was ever so slightly open, his bottom lip tempting you to kiss him then and there. However you weren't yet done admiring him. You gazed at the dark tan skin of his back, the muscles he'd developed made it look strong and sculpted. He started wearing a good chain around his neck lately. You weren't exactly sure why, good luck maybe, but it was as thin as a string and hung under his shirt most of the time. You could however see it very well... You'd be the only one.

You let your hand drop dangerously low down his back, begining to strike upwards in a slow, teasing motion. He was as by now, but did nothing to show it. He just let you keep moving your fingers higher and higher until your hand began to circle his shoulders lightly.

He smiled now, figuring you already knew he was awake. His pretty eyes fluttered open and he smile even wider just at the sight of you. Hair sprawled out on your pillow, eyes still full of sleep, and an unexplainable glow you had every morning.

"Buenos días mi amor, duermes bien?" He asked, his voice slipping into his recently very heavy accent.

"Si angel... como te sientes?" You replied. You'd taken French classes in highschool, but now you were required to take another language for college, so you obviously chose Spanish, knowing Benny loved to speak it to you. Now you could not only understand it but speak it back to him.

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes and shrugging. He was still hung up about all the horrible events of the day prior, even though there was a somewhat happy ending to it all.

"Ben, please tell me... how do you feel?" You repeated yourself, trying to get his attention better now.

"I'm better, but I don't know.... I just wish yesterday never happened. I hurt you... I hurt myself." He then quickly hid his forearms under the sheets to where you couldn't see them.

You hated that he did this, not because you cared how they look, but becaus3 he did. As far as you were concerned, they were battle scars. Emotional war is still a war, and it kills people every day. He survived it, and those scars are proof.

"I hate them..." He told you, looking away From your face. He had rolled over on his back, so now he blankly stared at the ceiling.  "I cut too deep, they're gonna be ugly."

"Nothing about you could ever be ugly." You didn't yet and make him turn his head, you just threaded your fingers through his hair as a comfort for him.

"I don't know.... I don't exactly look like I used to." He replied, all his insecurities were now rising to the surface in his moment of reflection, and you couldn't believe what you were hearing.

"Ben where'd this come from?" You asked him, sitting up on your elbow and leaning over to where he could see you.

"I'm not sure. I just know that the way I look isn't the same. I used to like how I looked when we were kids." He kept shooting off all these words against himself, and you had to stop before it got out of hand.

"Stop it. Right now. You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my entire life, and you alway will be. You are stunning to look at, and it's not just my opinion either... The girls I work with, you know what they call you?" You leaned over him, gaining eye contact as you spoke the words fluidly, as if they were rehearsed.